The name “Eagle Mining Company” is sufficiently popular and general that it is difficult to precisely pinpoint the exact location of the firm. John J. Ford, Jr. advises that in the 1860s and 1870s at least two companies operated under this name in Gilpin County, Colorado.
The Mines of Colorado, 1867, notes of the Eagle Mining Company:
They have a first-class fifty-stamp mill at the mouth of Gamble Gulch. The building is 75 X 90 feet, contains the batteries, plates, sixty-horse engine and boilers, and that is all. It was run through June, 1865, but without paying result. It was shut up and is likely to remain so until further developments in the art of treating Colorado ores- The Company has a boarding-house, barn, and other necessary buildings near their mill on South Boulder.
Another possibility is that the following items may have been from ore taken from the “Eagle” claim in Lake Gulch, Gilpin County.
An offering of a $103.00 gold ingot in Stack’s Gibson Collection Sale (1974) contained information furnished by John J Ford, Jr.:
Ten dated and four undated gold Eagle Mining Company ingots are known. The former dated 1875 (1), 1877 (3), 1878 (5), and 1879 (1), together with a somewhat larger number of silver ones. The first of these appeared on the market over twenty years ago, apparently from a small group in Arizona. Over the years, additional examples have occasionally turned up. For instance, a gem dealer and western enthusiast from Roxbury, Connecticut, named R.C. Romanella, found two gold ingots in Central City, Colorado in 1965. (One of these was the Gibson Collection example). At least three of the fourteen gold “Eagle” ingots are stamped COL. The fourteen different pieces can be broken down into four or five separate groups, differing either in shape, style, date, or numerical sequence, or punch arrangement, or a combination of these characteristics. To further complicate matters, rumor has permeated the research done to date to the effect that the company either removed to Arizona Territory or else that a key employee or associate absconded with the assaying equipment and issued ingots bearing the firm’s stamp in Arizona Territory. This is confirmed by an advertisement in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, June 20, 1954, under the name of R. Green, in which a $50 gold ingot of the Eagle Mining Company was offered, claiming it was made by the Eagle Mining Company of Eagle City, Arizona. The advertisement noted that “This company used gold from Planet and other mines in Cieniga Mining district about sixteen miles above Park and five or six miles below the mouth of Bill Williams fork in Yuma County, Arizona.”
8.45 oz Eagle Mining Company 1877 $148.41 Gold Ingot
Eagle Mining Co. 1877 gold ingot for $148.41. Hand stamped on obverse: 839 FINE / 8.45 OZS / VALUE / $148.41 Below is seal of company incused, eagle in center. Around top, COL. 1877 and inside circle, EAGLE / MINING CO. On reverse, GOLD / 8.45 OZS / FINE / 839 / (space) / NO. 1:165 At top edge is the No. “1,” at lower edge is No. “165.” Lustrous gold color, and grades Extremely Fine. In 1974, an 1878 specimen was sold in the Gibson Sale, and another in the NASCA 1980 offering as Lot 2438, also dated 1878.
Obtained from John Ford, Jr. in 1906. Originally in the group of ten known dated bars sold by John Kenworthy, Phoenix, Ariz., 1955; Werner Amelingmeir, Merrick, N.Y. to Ford.
[03/1982] https://archive.org/details/henryhcliffordco1982bowe/page/n97/
6.00 oz Eagle Mining Company 1878 $124.0 Gold Ingot
- Obverse Text: 1878 / EAGLE MINING CO. / 6.0. OZS
- Reverse Text: 999 FINE / VALUE $124.0 / GOLD NO. 78
- Measurements: 2.8 cm x 5 cm x .6 cm; 1 3/32 in x 1 31/32 in x 1/4 in
This ingot is permanently housed at the Smithsonian Institution, formerly from the estate of Estate of Josiah K. Lilly.
See: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_1102658
$104.81, 6 oz 8dwt Eagle Mining Gold Ingot, No 123
Another smaller Gold ingot surfaced in a private collection in April 2021 with face value at $104.81.
Reverse Text: GOLD 775 F, SILVER 186 F, 7 OZS 8 DWT, NO 123
See: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNJR2irLfIK/?img_index=1
4.41 oz Eagle Mining Gold Ingot $73.82 Value
The Eagle Mining Company. Obverse: VALUE / $73.82 / EAGLE / MINING Co. Reverse: FINE / .810 / OZS / 4.41 / GOLD. Very Fine or better. The origin of this bar is uncertain.
[02/1987] https://archive.org/details/lwhoffeckercolle1987supe/page/340/
Two more Eagle Mining gold bars were auctioned as part of the “Gibson Sale”, November 11, 1974 at Stacks.
$103.00, 1878, Gold Assay ingot, EAGLE MINING CO.
Obverse: (Date) / Round, incuse die-stamp, showing modernistic heraldic eagle, EAGLE above, MKINING Co., below. / 6 .0 OZS.
Reverse: 834 FINE / GOLD NO. 65 / VALUE $103.0(0). (Three lines of rev. stampings placed vertically in relation to the obverse.)
Left Edge: SILVER 165F. 2,880.30 Grains.
Very Fine or better. Obtained from John Kenworthy, Phoenix, Arizona, 1955; Werner Amelingmeier, Merrick, N. Y., 1955-57; Henry H. Clifford, 1957-65; R.F. Batchelder. A bright lustrous, and attractive ingot; an excellent example of this firm’s issues for the collector desiring a moderately priced Western assay ingot.
[11/1974] https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516500
$144.28, 1877 Gold Assay Ingot, EAGLE MINING CO.
Obverse: GOLD / 841 FINE / VALUE / $144.28 / COL. (date) (state abbreviation and 1877 curved to confirm with company stamping below) / round, incuse die-stamp, with modernistic heraldic eagle and company name, as on last.
Reverse: NO.1 / .367 (inverted, compared to obv. stamps and balance of rev. stamps) / 8.3 OZS / .841 / FINE / GOLD.
Top Edge: (facing rev.): 1
Bottom Edge: (facing rev.): 367
3,977.70 Grains. Strictly Very Fine. Remarkably clean surfaced, handling and wear wise, except for a few obv. rim abrasions at the lower right. This ingot and one marked $148.41 represent the atypical pair found in Central City, Colorado, in Feb. 1965, by R. C. Romanella; (the higher denomination of this type resides in the H. H. Clifford coll., presently on display in the second San Francisco Mint Museum, San Francisco). Ex John J. Ford, Jr., 1965; R. F. Batchelder. As one of only two ingots of the type, and as but one of three Eagle Mining Co. gold ingots recorded bearing the Colorado designation, this piece is well worth generous bidding, despite its dull, cold, lemon-colored surfaces.
[11/1974] https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516500
Two more Eagle Mining gold bars were auctioned as part of the “Allan Lee Scott Collection”, April 28, 1980.
5.79 Oz, 1878 Eagle Mining Gold Ingot $118.70 No 25
2.91 Oz, 1878 Eagle Mining Gold Ingot $51.25 No 71
[04/1980] https://archive.org/details/allanleescottcol1980numi
Another example was auctioned as part of the “: “S. Hallock du Pont Collection”, March 4, 1983, Parts II and III. European Coins
Eagle Mining $67.55, 4.05 oz Gold Ingot
Silver Bars
Approximately 20 silver bars are known and have been seen over the years. A full census of the silver bars will be left as a future exercise. They turn up from time to time in private collections or auctions.
5.64 oz Eagle Mining Co. Silver ingot bar, No 336
With seal of company as on Lot 215, eagle in center, reading: EAGLE / MINING CO. At top, 999 / FINE / VALUE / $7.27 / On reverse, in three lines: OZS. / 5.64 / NO.336 / In Very Fine condition.
[03/1982] https://archive.org/details/henryhcliffordco1982bowe/page/n97/
5.64 oz Eagle Mining Co. Silver ingot bar, No 362
Eagle Mining Co. silver ingot bar. Almost identical to bar in preceding lot, but nicely toned and reverse differently stamped. Surprisingly enough, identical value, $7.27 and weight 5.64 oz as Lot 216. Reverse reads in two lines: OZS. 5.64 / NO. 362 / Extremely Fine and scarce.
[03/1982] https://archive.org/details/henryhcliffordco1982bowe/page/n97/